Thursday, February 14, 2013

Where to look for love BEFORE Valentine’s Day

Many single people wait until February before they start
looking for a date. And, of course, because they’re in such a desperate,
crabby, why-doesn’t-anyone-love-me mood, they are unsuccessful in getting a date
and instead binge on a bag full of chocolate. Not that Lady Chatterley has ever been one of these people.

So, how are you going to avoid this predicament? Start
looking early!

Places to find love

Forget bars! If you want to find someone intelligent, classy,
and who might share the same interests as you, try these alternative places.

Book clubs: Looking for nerd love? All you have to do is an
internet search for “book clubs” in your local area. Barnes and Nobles has groups. For those in Portland, the book mecca of Powell’s Books has three
different locations in the Portland
area and their calendar is packed with authors, events and book groups. And if
you are a guy and really want to go someplace filled with women, check out the
Cheeky Pages romance book group. (Though they also have mystery, science
fiction and other genres.)

http://www.powells.com/calendar.html

Romance Writers of America: There are over 30 local
chapters. The Portland
chapter, Rose City Romance Writers has a membership of over 100 people, mostly
women. Those are pretty good odds for the guys. At least for guys who enjoy supporting romance writing.

Dancing: Women love men who can dance and what better place
to go than someplace that teaches dance? And for the men, there are almost
always more women at places that teach dance or host open dance so you are in
high demand.

For a complete list of dance events going on in Portland go to Portland
Dancing.

Meet Up: This group is a way to connect and meet other
people with similar interests. For example, on the Meet Up website, there are
categories such as arts and entertainment, sports and recreation, heath and
support as well as many others. In Portland,
there are tarot card groups, ASL practice groups, outdoors groups and others.
To find people with similar interests in your city, check it out.

Outdoors Clubs: If you enjoy the outdoors, organizations
such as the Trails Club of Oregon, or Mazamas a Portland hiking, rock climbing, skiing club
might be right for you. There also is the Willamette Sailing Club, and
Bergreunde Mountain Friends, an outdoor, sports and social club.

LoveTribe: A different way to connect with people: There is
an organization called LoveTribe, all about bringing people together and
helping them connect in nontraditional ways to create a feeling of community
with parties like snuggle parties and game nights. Their events are edgy, not a
dating service, and certainly not right for all people, but something different
to try. LoveTribe started in Portland
and has branched out to many other cities.

Online dating: Let say you don’t read books, can’t dance, don’t like
the outdoors, and have no hobbies, so none of those social clubs seem right to
you. When you have tried everything else, or you don’t have any time (or money)
to attend a social club, there is always the internet. Craigslist is free and
always has local personal ads. I know two different middle school teachers who
met their husbands through online personal ads, one with Eharmony and the other
with Match.com. And neither woman is afraid to tell people that’s how she met
her husband. Craigslist and Okcupid are free. As a result, there is also
a higher rate of unemployed people without cars and cell phones. On the plus
side, Okcupid is said to cater to a younger, nerdier crowd. Plenty of Fish and
Christian Singles are other dating sites. And there are many more out there.

About Me

Though Lady Chastity Chatterley's first publication in the realm of
erotica will soon to be out in Hot Dish, she also has written under
other pseudonyms in magazines and anthologies such as: Daily Science
Fiction, Bards and Sages, New Myths, Penumbra, Crossed Genres, Flagship,
Roar, and has won awards from Allasso and Romance Writers of America.
By day, Chastity Chatterley is often busy chasing pirates in her
dirigible and shooting steam powered laser beams, while by night she
teaches and performs belly dance. One might wonder how she has any
leftover time to test the functions of her "Personal Contraption" (or PC
as some call it), surf the "interweb" as she calls it or use her public
log (or plog). Feel free to visit her at Lady Chatterley's Chat Parlor
and peruse her posts on comma sutra, racy thoughts of the day, lists of
worst first dates or other amusing and sinfully sexy anecdotes.